Seven more public sites in Sydney, including a school, sports hub and supermarket, were exposed to asbestos, authorities said on Monday, as the contamination of the toxic material widened and officials rushed to remove it from public spaces.

Traces of bonded asbestos in mulch have been found in 41 spots scattered across Australia’s most populous city since early January when it was found in a playground.

In response, the New South Wales state government has set up an asbestos task force to give more resources and support to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), in one of the agency’s largest probes in decades.

Authorities have so far cordoned off areas in parks, some in popular tourist spots, and closed two schools. Contaminated spots in other sites have been blocked from the public.

  • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    yeah, it’s actually a crystal of sorts. if you look closely at the fuzzy stuff it’s actually millions of tiny razor sharp crystals. like, they’re not even microscopic. it’s amazing that people just looked at it and went “I’m sure it’s fine” for so long.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Sorry, are you talking about asbestos or sugar?

      (Edit to clarify - sugar usually looks like a bunch of razor sharp crystals - lots of stuff does actually. The crystalline structure of asbestos isn’t what makes it dangerous)